Softball Regional Finals To Be Decided Monday and Tuesday Nights

Posted on July 10, 2017 by KBOE Administrator

Over the next two days, 40 schools will punch their ticket to the Iowa High School Softball State Tournament at Harlan Rogers Park in Fort Dodge. In the No Coast Network listening area, there are seven who are looking to do just that.

On Monday night, Class 1A, 2A, and 3A will all be looking to raise a banner.

Class 1A Region 3 is one of the most incredible matchups in the state, as Montezuma (18-12) will host Fort Dodge St. Edmond (12-17). Monte finished the season strong but still had to win a play-in game against Tri-County, which they barely survived in walkoff fashion last Monday, 4-3. Then, the Bravettes came from behind to walkoff again on Wednesday, this time against North Mahaska, 2-1 in 10 innings. They made things a little easier on themselves last Friday, exploding late to defeat Lynnville-Sully on the road, 10-4.

Now, they’ll play one of the unlikeliest of regional finalists in Fort Dodge St. Edmond. The Gaels started their run last Monday by beating Coon Rapids-Bayard, 3-2, in a game at Harlan Rogers Park. The big upset occurred last Wednesday, as they defeated #5 Newell-Fonda, 8-6, in Fonda. They kept up the momentum on Friday, waltzing past Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, 9-2.

These two will do battle on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, radiokmzn.com, and the KMZN mobile app, beginning at 6:45 PM for the 7 PM first pitch in Montezuma.

In Class 1A Region 7, Sigourney (21-11) has to go on the road to face #3 Martensdale-St. Marys to get to state. The Savages have held serve throughout in the bottom half of the bracket, getting a 7-1 win over Winfield-Mount Union on Wednesday and a 6-5 win over New London on Friday, both at home.

Martensdale-St. Marys (32-3) dominated in their first game against Southeast Warren, 12-0, but faced a stiff test against Wayne before surviving, 4-3.

That game can be heard on 104.9 FM KBOE, kboeradio.com, and the KBOE mobile app at 6:45 PM for the 7 PM first pitch in Martensdale.

In Class 2A Region 6, two area teams will duke it out for one trip to state. #4 Pella Christian (32-5) will host #9 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (29-8) in Pella. These two teams haven’t seen each other yet this year, but have a great rivalry in other sports.

EBF has been ranked as high as #2 this season and seemed destined to comfortably sit at the top of their region, but after some confusion with the IGHSAU, regions needed shuffled and a white-hot Pella Christian was added to the Rockets’ bracket. After both teams strolled through the first two rounds, they now find themselves needing one win to make it to Fort Dodge. First pitch in Pella is at 7 PM.

Region 7 in Class 3A features #9 Albia (27-8) travelling to face #6 Solon (30-12). Albia has a ton of youth and has shown great growth all season long. Solon has been there and done that, qualifying for state on a near-yearly basis. These two will lock horns in Solon at 7 PM.

On Tuesday night, just two area teams will be looking to advance to state.

Class 4A Region 5 sees the defending state champion and fifth-ranked Oskaloosa Indians (28-12) hosting #7 Burlington (22-17). Osky breezed past Washington in the semifinals to get to this point, hosting another regional final. They’ll face Burlington, a perennially ranked team in Class 5A who dropped down to 4A this year. The Greyhounds had to sweat it out in the semis, needing extras to down North Scott at home on Saturday, 3-1.

That game can be heard live from the Oskaloosa Softball Field at 6:45 PM on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, radiokmzn.com, and the KMZN mobile app. First pitch Tuesday night is at 7 PM.

Finally, the Ottumwa Bulldogs (26-14) will look to keep up a strong tradition under Head Coach Frank Huston and get back to state. The #11 Bulldogs will face top-ranked Waukee (37-3-1) on the road Tuesday night. Both teams won by double-digits in their first postseason game and it will be sure to be a heavyweight fight in Waukee on Tuesday night, with the first pitch at 7 PM.

Be sure to stay locked in on KBOE and KMZN on the air and on the web for all the latest scores and updates throughout the postseason.

Pella Christian Falls in Semifinals, Will Play for 3rd Place at State

Posted on March 10, 2016 by KBOE Administrator

The most efficient defense in the state of Iowa in Class 2A showed exactly why they earned that mark Thursday afternoon.

Cascade of Western Dubuque, the #4 seed in the tournament, took full advantage of an undersized Pella Christian front line and closed the three point line to get a 51-36 win.

#8 seed Pella Christian battled gamely during the first half, as the lead exchanged hands 8 different times. But PC’s patient offensive attack was unable to get consistent looks inside the arc and the shots from downtown were contested regularly by the long and active Cougar defense.

The Eagles’ defense did the job they needed to, limiting the chances Cascade had inside. But their inability to score with any consistency on the offensive end led to their demise.

Levi Jungling, PC’s best scorer at over 20 points per game, was held to just 5 points on 2 of 9 shooting. Mitch Fopma led the Eagles with 13.

Pella Christian will play Anamosa in the 3rd Place Consolation Game at 11:45 AM on Friday morning. Cascade will face Western Christian for the Class 2A State Championship Friday night at 8 PM.

You can hear reports from that game on 104.9 FM KBOE and 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN.

Pella Christian Uses Thrilling Comeback to Advance to Semis

Posted on March 7, 2016 by KBOE Administrator

It wasn’t Levi Jungling’s best day on the court on Monday. It didn’t matter.

Jungling’s teammates came up huge en route to #8 seed Pella Christian’s 59-52 victory over previously unbeaten and #1 seed Dike-New Hartford in the Class 2A State Quarterfinals.

The first half was controlled by PC, as they held the lead throughout. They would take a 29-21 lead into the locker room, leading the 25-0 Wolverines, who hadn’t faced many tests all season.

The second half began much differently, however, as DNH stormed back into the game and took the lead as PC failed to get anything going offensively with their star player struggling to find his shot.

As the fourth quarter rolled around, DNH pushed the lead to 8 with 6 minutes to go in regulation.

At this point, the Eagles started to chip away and get the game back to within reach. Senior Mitch Fopma had a couple of the biggest hoops of the game, nailing a three and getting a bucket while being fouled to help his team claw back within a single possession.

Junior Alex Pringle would complete the play of the game, however. With just over a minute to play and the Eagles down 50-48, Pringle would gather a loose ball off a miss and a guide pass from DNH 35 feet from the hoop. While in the odd-man situation in the fastbreak, Pringle then dribbled to the right corner before calmly gathering the dribble and burying the three to give the Eagles a lead they would not relinquish.

Jungling was huge down the stretch, as he would get a breakaway layup to make it a three-point game shortly thereafter, and nail all four of his free throws to ice the game.

Although he would only go 5 for 14 from the field and 1 for 5 from downtown, Jungling went 9 for 10 from the line to get to 20 points to lead the Eagles. He also led the way with 8 rebounds.

Senior Jeremy Van Beek had a very nice showing inside for Head Coach Larry Hessing, scoring 10 points in the first half to keep the Eagles on top while Jungling tried to find his stroke.

PC moves on to the Class 2A Semifinals where they will face #4 seed Cascade of Western Dubuque. Cascade defeated Osage 60-27 in the quarterfinals earlier on Monday night. They enter the game 21-3, while PC comes in at 17-9. All 9 losses for the Eagles came in Little Hawkeye Conference play, where they face Class 3A and 4A opponents. They are unbeaten this year against 2A competition.

The game will begin at 2 PM on Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. You can hear live updates throughout the afternoon on 104.9 FM KBOE and 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN.

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